PITTSBURGH (AP) — Attorneys for a Pittsburgh man who beat a woman in 1993 say the murder sentence he eventually received was too harsh because it wasn’t imposed until after she died in 2007 — by which time the maximum sentence for third-degree murder had doubled.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/11B3xUe ) reports attorneys for Stevenson Rose want his 20- to 40-year sentence overturned in the beating death of Mary Mitchell. Although Mitchell was beaten in 1993 — when the maximum penalty for that crime was just 10 to 20 years — she lived in a vegetative state until dying of her injuries 14 years later.

Rose’s attorney says his client should be sentenced based on the law in effect at the time of her attack.

But Allegheny County prosecutors say the “crime” of murder didn’t occur until Mitchell actually died.

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